The places we go!

So a major perk of working in Negril and working with the hotels is that they invite you to come and use their facilities. This was a fun night. A pool right on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Just what I needed. Thank you Rockhouse (google that shit).

So my high and low of the week (yes it is Monday). High: The back roads that I walk to get to walk have been beneficial because I am meeting people that don't think I am a tourist and two women I have been chatting with have invited me to come over and cook and hang out with them. This is called integration ladies and gentlemen and it is not an easy task in a tourist community. I am making progress. I am also having a BBQ with some fellow PCV on Saturday for my birthday and we are inviting a handful of Jamaicans which is also very exciting. Ok, my low: Part of my job is to increase the capacity for Jamaicans here, skills transfer and the like. One of the things I need to do is train my supervisor (a very wise man) computer skills. I had him take a computer literacy assessment and he scored near zero. He said he felt like a dummy and I feel like I made him feel small, which is not something I want to do at all. He has been very receptive to all this and wants to learn, I just have to make sure he knows that it is ok that I know this and he doesn't. He is a very good man.

Currently my mind is in a very healthy place. It is difficult going through the adjustment phase of living in a developing country where the conveniences that you are used to do not exist. For one: air conditioning. Two: trash disposal. I have to take my trash everyday to the grocery store complex and sneak it into the one receptacle they have. Back to my healthy head space: I feel like I can do this. I am excited to do it. I have learned so much about myself in the 10 weeks that I have been here I can only imagine who I will be in two years! That being said, this is my one hangup currently: I work too much. Or, I feel I do. The thing is, I don't actually work myself to the bone. But I feel like I need more down time for my mental health. Because I am adjusting and dealing with some anxiety and all this, it would really help if I had a little more freedom with my job. It is funny that I write this and you'll know why when I walk you through my usual day. In the real world, I don't make the rules. There are 40 hour work weeks and expectations for work, but in reality, if I were able to control my work schedule a little better, I would be more efficient and effective. I am doing pretty well, but don't want to step on my supervisors toes already.

So, this is my daily routine (with some variation).
6:30 Alarm goes off, I reset it for 8:30
7:30 I wake up
8:30 I get up, pee, take out my retainers, figure out what I am going to have for breakfast and jump in the shower
8:50ish Walk around wet and naked (only time to be REALLY cool for the whole day), make my breakfast (this varies), make my iced orgasmic, climactic, instant coffee
9:00 Turn on my computer to organize my information that I am going to present to my supervisor, make my to do list for the day or add to the one I made the previous night, check work emails over my breakfast and coffee, brush my teeth, put on my spf, make sure my iPOD is charging so I can rock out when I get home
9:30 Leave for work. I walk through this back road (I will take you there whoever visits me) 1.5 miles to work saying "Good morning" with a smile on my face to all passersby and idlers. (I have been promoted in reponse from shock and awe to 'good morning dear' I love it.)
10:00 Arrive at the Recycling Center, meet with my supervisor. Most of this is just chit chat and visiting and then down to business. Relationships are super important here so production is low and talking is high.
12:30ish Leave for home for my lunch.
1:00 Shower, walk around naked while I drip dry (not cool and usually sweating unless I am sitting in front of the fan), put my clothes on and make and eat my lunch
2:00 Go to the Chamber of Commerce and do computer work, phone calls, research, etc, or go to meetings at schools, hotels, etc.
4:30-5 Leave to go home
My evenings vary but they are mostly make dinner, write emails and blog etc, and read. SOMETIMES I watch a movie but I have only watched like three since being here. I also work. As soon as I am done here I am going to install Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing on my computer and get familiar with it to use with my supervisor. And then I am going to do some preliminary research on composting with cardboard. I try to go to bed around 10pm which explains why I try to get up at 6:30, but it never works that way.

So all in all, I work from 10-12:30 and then 2:00-4:30 ish...but I always do work in the morning and when I get home. So I feel like I get a lot done, but the hours aren't out of control. So am I slacking? I think this is what I am trying to figure out. Can I work less or is that bad even though I am accomplishing a ton? It isn't even like I want more free time for fun and games. I want to have the emotional energy to go talk to my neighbors and get involved in my community. I feel pretty strained mentally just from trying to process my new life and my goals and plans here, on top of the stimulus of LIVING IN JAMAICA IN POVERTY so by the end of the night I really just want to hang out and chill in my place. So if I spent more time hanging out and chilling in my crib, I could have more energy to be in my community which is a huge part of the Peace Corps!

Moving on from that...I could go on forever with how I feel and what I should do. There are a few things in particular I need to mention. First, I love lists. They are so incredible for organization. I make lists for everything. Everyday! In fact, I have a list for this blog. I have been working on it throughout the week. One of them, number 8, the love of lists. I am not going to cover everything on my list tonight or I would go on forever, but I will say that it is nice to look back over my list because it helps me remember the things that really stick out to me the most.

For instance...I was cracking myself up the other day looking at this dead crab in the road that was flat as a pancake (Acme cartoon style). The roadkill here is two things. Giant land crabs, and huge frogs! I see way more flat crabs and mushed up frogs. There is sadly also the occasional dog. Since I am on the topic of frogs and crabs, two things: I am scared of both but crazy interested in them. They intrigue me so I investigate and naturally I get close enough and poke it or something (I know...bad) and then shriek like a little school girl. I got the best of both worlds tonight! I was walking home from my neighbor Sandy's place ( I had dinner over there. Whole wheat pasta with pumpkin and callallo and lots of butter. SO freaking good.) and on my way home a giant frog jumped in front of me and I screamed so loud that she came running thinking I was going to get killed! Nope. Just a frog. Silly me. And then, I was in here (my house) and the dog Lucky (dumb as a dalmation but cute and sweet) was barking the serious some one is in the yard bark. Well, kids have been coming in the yard picking fruit to sell and I was getting ready to go yell at them and I ran out and it wasn't a person at all (mind you I prob should have had my mace in case it was a bad bad man). It was a crab in his dog house that we call his 'villa.' Luckiest dog alive...at least he seems to know it. Anyways....this crab and him were having one hell of a battle. I took some pics. None are good but I am going to put one up anyways.

I also think I am going to start posting video blogs on Youtube. Not sure how that is going to work. I have been posting on Facebook and it takes too long and overwhelms my internet connection trying to do it on Blogger but I am going to try to Youtube. SO get ready life out there! I will keep you all posted on what ends up happening there.

It is incredible how used to bugs I am getting here. Well, bugs and lizards. I guess I am still adjusting to the frogs and crabs. There are three kinds of ants here that you see regularly. There are sugar ants, everything thing ants, and red hot ants. They all have names that I don't know, but here is the breakdown. Sugar ants are everywhere there is sugar. And, everywhere there is not, but there will be a million on anything that is sugar (which is why my cereal in in the refrigerator). They are the coolest ants I have ever had in my life. They are tiny tiny things. Unless there are a ton you don't even notice them on the wall, on the bed, on my body. They are half black and their butt half is white (thorax?) and they move like superman. Man, these things are so freaking fast. I can't even explain except for that if you rock their world they disappear in seconds in this frenzy. Next, everything ants. They eat everything (which is why everything is in my refrigerator, even my canned goods...I know..don't say anything). They are black and normal sized small ants that you see in the states everywhere. They like to crawl onto you (you don't feel it) and then bite the shit out of you. Welts exist and itch all day but it stings man. I was doing my laundry this morning and as I was hanging it to dry on the line I felt like five bites and look down and there was a whole colony on my feet consuming me and I didn't even know. Bastard ants. In the last week they have found my house. Not happy about it. Red hot ants: they are huge, red, and bite: HARD. Other than that, I only have to deal with mosquitoes in my place (if I leave the screen open), lizards, and roaches. The lizards are no longer cute. I am tired of dealing with all their little poos everywhere. The roaches I can't even take. I remember my favorite college professor telling a story of when he was doing outreach work in San Fransisco and played a game with his wife where they would turn on the lights in the kitchen and see who could count the most cockroaches. I took all his classes and heard his story over and over again thinking it was so funny and endearing. It is actually not funny and endearing. It sucks. I go into my kitchen without turning the light on and they are running everywhere and they hop! I had one jump out at me in the sink. Scared the crap out of me. So I have cockroaches, lizards, two kinds of ants, and mosquitoes. Not bad. I mean it. My place is super nice. I am just glad I don't have to take bucket showers and boil my water. I would have survived beautifully in the bush and would have loved the 'roughin it' aspect of the Peace Corps and I certainly am in some ways, but I also have a Hi/Lo right around the corner from my house and I get cell phone reception. I am good to go.

I feel like it is getting gross or weird that I speak about my intestinal adventures, but it is such a huge part of making it here. It is tough everyday. And since this blog is definitely a cultural exchange piece (readers are learning about life in Jamaica) I feel like it is appropriate to tell you. So I thought I had worms, not sure if I do. I took the medicine and haven't seen any, but am still having some symptoms which I still feel the need to not share for some reason. Me not sharing is seriously weird...not in the mood to get gory, even though I have some gory freaking details. Basically not sure what is going on there. I chickened out with the tape test. I woke up and thought about it but then went to the bathroom and wiped...oops. Seriously though, there are so many kinds of bowel movements here. I am not sure what is normal anymore. First of all, my stool has been a dark green and mucousy now for months and half the time it is runny. They call it runny belly here. I love it so much more than the term diarrhea. And I can deal with runny belly. I am getting used to measuring the runny belly, the urgent runny belly, and the emergency runny belly. For instance, the difference between runny belly and urgent runny belly is the first you don't know you have until you are on the toilet, the second you feel moving and know you need to find a restroom in the next ten minutes. The difference between urgent runny belly and emergency runny belly is the first you know you have five or ten minutes, the second, you get out of the shower midwash to evacuate (this happened earlier this week followed by urgent RB for the rest of the afternoon). I can handle all of this but the cramping sucks, as does the raw asshole. I am ready to be regular. That is all I will say on the matter for a while. I am poop talked out.

This blog is now so long that no one will probably get this far but I am going to leave on a good note here. I am really happy to be here. Everyday I am tested. My patience, my humility, my temper, my spirit. I am guided by wanting to make the right decisions to better myself and be good to others. Right now this involves me in Jamaica and all the emotions I feel. All the choices to make. All the mistakes to expect. This is all hard, but I am getting through everyday and am lucky enough to look inside myself everyday to reflect on this experience. These last pics are me and my bffj4e Grace. This is the contrast of how we look, and how we feel.